Bigfoot Encounters

HEJKAL  - BOOGEYMAN
Hejkal (the howler, yeller, the one who screams – in old Czech language)
Pronunciation: “hey-cal

Jakub Kloucek translated this description of “Hejkal” from a Czech encyclopedia: 

HEJKAL - Mythological being of a forest man, king of the forest – according to legends he punished wrongdoers, but did not do wrong to good people.

Hejkal is a fairy-tale being, a boogeyman, which lives in the forest and scares the trespassers by making terrible sounds.  Hejkal is the subject of several Czechoslovakian fairy-tales, but his/its description is somewhat contradictory. The only match is in vocalization and that he/it lives in the forest. The Hejkal often, for a better chance to scare the trespassers, camouflages himself/itself with leafs, mud, grass and wood.

In order not to be noticed prematurely, he/it uses also some kinds of illusion magic skills. It means that to the trespassers, he/it looks like a tree, but in reality he/it looks the same.

We also acknowledge Hejkal, which are very similar to skinny people and have black or brown hair, their vocalization is mostly similar to human voice, but are also able to produce very powerful yells or even whistle. They feed on larvae and bugs, but don't hesitate to eat mice, eggs or little birds; they especially like to feed on little frogs and fish. There are known cases, when especially in the times of hog-killing, they would scare walkersby, who carried some meat through a forest, and then the walkersby would drop a sausage or a blood sausage on the ground. That would be for Hejkal a welcoming change; as such a fat diet would strengthen him/it up.

It often happens that Hejkal alone would become outsmarted by men, especially when caught in poacher traps. But who would such a Hejkal set free and cure, the person would be rewarded by extraordinary friendship, which was very often crowned by an unusual reward, a gift of special skills, or a magical item. (Kloucek)


(Jakub Kloucek, Prague, Czech
Republic …I am a university law student in Pilsen, the Czech Republic, just finished my 3rd year, July 28, 2009)

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